We offer FREE Consultations to anyone who may need help or for anyone who has a loved one or friend who is addicted to opiates.

We provide medication assisted treatment in addition to counseling services designed to improve the quality of life of those suffering from addiction.

Services begin with a comprehensive evaluation by trained medical and counseling personnel experienced in the treatment of addiction.

Based on the evaluation, we design a custom treatment plan tailored to each individual’s specific needs and circumstances.

The treatment plan may include the use of FDA approved medications such as methadone or buprenorphine (in the form of film or tablet).

Evidence-based cognitive behavioral and motivational counseling services are also provided based on the level of need up to and including an intensive outpatient program.

For most who begin recreational use of drugs, including heroin and prescription pain relievers, physiological dependence often comes as a surprise. Most begin to experience mild discomfort after the drugs begin to "wear off"… [read more ]

We offer a flexible, multi-level Outpatient Program for patients who are seeking effective treatment for addictions. Our state licensed Outpatient Program is designed for Patients who do not require - or who have competed [read more]

The hardest part of solving any problem is taking the first step. That's why we are always happy to discuss your problem confidentially and anonymously until you are able to take that step. Appointments are available for ... [read more ]

Some of Our Success Stories
College Student

Hi , my name is Courtney and I am a junior in college and addicted to heroin. I have
been using heroin for several years and college is getting harder. I am not sure the coursework is harder.
I think it is my addiction that causes me to lose focus. It was time for me to get help and I went to AMS
of Wisconsin for medicated assisted treatment and have gotten my life back. I go to school and work and
even have a little time for fun. For me it is 6 months clean of opiates and I feel so much better.

Some of Our Success Stories
Couple

I'm Cindy, and I am Jason, and our story begins with addiction to opiates and heroin. As a
couple with two small children we found ourselves in deep trouble and addiction. All of our money was
going to purchase illegal substances and we felt very guilty but yet helpless. We did love our children
but Child Protective Services was contacted and we were very worried about losing custody of our
children. Four months after choosing medicated assisted treatment at AMS of Wisconsin our lives have
improved greatly and we are on the road to a healthy life for both of us and our children. We want
others out there suffering from addiction to know that there is hope and your life can get better.

Some of Our Success Stories
Trades

My name is Jeremy and I am a carpenter and a heroin addict. I love the outdoors, working,
fishing and hunting in it. My addiction was causing me to lose everything that I really cared about. I
nearly lost my job and I wasn’t hunting and fishing any more and my family life was suffering greatly.
My best friend told me about AMS of Wisconsin and that medicated assisted treatment could work
for me. I started my treatment and felt like there was hope for me again. I have since told a few of my
friends about treatment because the same things were happening to them. I know several people
who have started out with an injury and taking a drug prescribed for them and ended up with a heroin
addiction never thinking this could possibly happen to them.

Usage of deadly drug fentanyl “shooting up” across the country

Fifty times more powerful than heroine and 100 times more powerful than morphine, fentanyl is a new and deadly drug that is sweeping the nation. Yet it has rarely been talked about around the country and not many people are aware of the dangers of it, especially college students. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic painkiller that looks like heroin, in fact it is so closely related to heroin that it is often mistaken for heroin. In the past, you could find fentanyl being laced into heroin. But now it is being sold separately without the buyer realizing it this often leads to a recipe for a hasty death as only a tiny bit of the drug can kill you. Fentanyl hits the user so fast that they feel it as soon as they stick the needle in their arm. It has become popular due to the intense high the user receives. The result is that numbers are shooting up in parts of the country. For example, in some areas of New England, fentanyl is now killing more people than heroin.

According to the New York Times article, Heroine Epidemic is Yielding to Deadlier Cousin: Fentanyl, in New Hampshire, fentanyl alone killed 158 people in 2015; heroine killed 32 people. Fentanyl is representing the newest wave of addiction as addicts continue to look for higher highs for cheaper costs in prescription painkillers; Fentanyl is now the prescription drug of choice. That is right; it is a prescription drug. It comes in brand names such as Duragesic, Abstral, Subsys, Ionsys and Sublimaze. It has been used since the 1960’s to treat extreme pain. Now, the drug can come in patches or lozenge form. In fact, according to The New York Times, in 2015, doctors wrote 6.64 million prescriptions in the U.S. However, the form that is commonly associated with overdoses is the powder form. That powder form, which is made in underground laboratories in the states as well as Mexico, can be injected or taken through a patch.

In recent decades, illicit fentanyl has been smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico.

“For the cartels, it’s their drug of choice,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. “They have figured out a way to make fentanyl more cheaply and easily than heroin and are manufacturing it at a record pace.”

The reason fentanyl hasn’t been talked about is because no one knew it was fentanyl. Everybody thought it was heroin and that is also the reason for the recent spikes in fentanyl overdoses. Nationally, the total number of fentanyl drug seizures reported by forensic laboratories jumped to 4,585 in 2014 from 618 in 2012. One of the reasons for the spike in reported fentanyl drug seizures has been that most cases were reported as being heroin related but recent lab results showed that fentanyl was instead responsible. Many labs continue to assume that heroin causes these drug overdoses, when in reality, it is actually fentanyl. But further study has made it clear that there is now a fentanyl epidemic.

Last March, the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a nationwidealertabout fentanyl, saying that overdoses were “occurring at an alarming rate throughout the United States and represent a significant threat to public health and safety.”

Most of the overdoses have occurred in the Northeast, but recently, the drug has found its way into the Midwest and even Wisconsin, specifically southeastern Wisconsin in Milwaukee County. According to John Diedrich of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, fentanyl linked deaths are surging as the county reported 16 fentanyl deaths in 2014 and that total went up to 28 in 2015. Through March of this year, there has already been 19 fentanyl related deaths in Milwaukee County. Heroine has long been the largest category of overdose deaths in Milwaukee. Drug deaths hit a record high in 2014 and for the first time ever, heroin deaths were greater than car crashes or homicides.

With Milwaukee’s history of heroin abuse, it makes this new deadlier drug that much more dangerous, and the odds are the number of fentanyl deaths will continue to be on the rise and continue to spread across Wisconsin. It is only a matter of time until we start hearing fentanyl here in La Crosse.